I call these my Mother of the Year Moments, and they deserve no rewards. I’m hoping that calling them by this term people will be so amused they forget the actual harming of the children. Yes, we all (you know you do it too!) go far beyond forgetting to re-stock the diapers. That’s nothing compare to what you have to look forward to Stephanie.

I must stress here that none of this is ever intentional. I don’t wake up in the morning and think, “today is the day I will zap Jeremy! Aaron! Jermaine!” I don’t playfully yell out, “Bazinga!” when I perform a Mother of the Year Moment. I do share so you know that you know that you are not alone.

Last Friday I drove Aaron to track club by himself. The twins are on a different schedule and had the day off. I had to take him extra early because I wanted to get to water aerobics. I dropped him off and went to dance and spin in the pool (I like to pretend I am a serious contender for the Olympic Synchronized Swimming team). I took a nice long shower and chatted with other gym members to delay leaving. I had no desire to sit outside the school waiting for Aaron to get done. Imagine my surprise (horror?!) when I saw him sitting all alone on the curb. His first words, “I didn’t have practice today, Mom.” Somehow I had gotten the schedule messed up and left him sitting on the curb for two whole hours. In the sun. No water. No company. So many seriously bad things could have happened.

I immediately called Jim to confess. I even cried a little. I genuinely felt horrible. Aaron’s pleasant attitude about the whole thing only made me feel worse. He didn’t get mad, he didn’t pout. He laughed about it and said the whole entire school was locked so he couldn’t get a drink. He didn’t even say it in a guilt-inducing way, either. Just matter of fact-ly. He even managed to tear up when I was crying just a little because he felt bad for me.

Aunt Darlene pointed out that I would quickly forget this incident when I felt like clobbering him in a few days. I have to admit after the trips to Wendy’s (guilt-induced fast food lunch) and Target (regular shopping) that the guilt was reduced by a small degree. Shopping with Aaron is never a pleasant task.

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7 thoughts on “Mother of the Year Moments…We All Have Them”

My youngest son rode the bus to where I work and sat patiently watching TV and waiting for me to get off. I once left work and didn’t realize I didn’t have him until I was halfway home. I was horrified. My son, engrossed in reruns of Gilligan’s Island, didn’t even realize he’d been left. That fact didn’t make me feel any better, though.

My husband and I met at a restaurant, driving separate cars. When finished, He took one child home, and I took the other. When we arrived, there was just one child. I thought he took Annie, and he thought I took both kids. Back to the restaurant, where Annie and the police were waiting. Lost the Mother of the Year award that year! molly

Aww don’t beat yourself up! It happens to everyone. Believe me. I heard a story from my old work friends that a kid was left at the movie theatre. His parents had driven seperately and each thought he was in the other person’s car. I think they drove about an hour before they realized they had left him.

Ay girl that happens to everyone. My mom left me once waiting outside of school from 4-9pm because she thought someone else was picking me up. She cried like a dummy afterwards and I was all “Why are you crying, suck it up!” lol. It happens…